SC4/Stage 11: The Castle Keep
The final stage. There are powerful enemies as well as deadly traps and obstacles as well as 3 bosses to face before you settle the score with Dracula. (Click to enlarge image) 1. There are Duhrons (AKA Headless swordsmen) in this area as you climb down. Be careful when they're close. As you make your way down, defeat any Duhron that gets in your way. 2. Here, use a sub-weapon (such as the boomerang) to defeat the nearby Duhron and maintaining the fragile blocks underneath your feet. 3. Once you reach the bridge, it'll collapse behind you and revealing bats, keep moving and don't stop. Do the same on the next bridge. Duck to avoid any bats before you climb down the staircase. 4. In this vertical scrolling area, you'll find that you're being chased by a fast moving spinning disk that will eliminate you if you it catches up to you. What's worse is that the staircases you'll walk up will fall apart once you step onto them. Move fast and don't stop as well as defeat any enemy that gets in your way. You'll also have to deal with stone creatures that can get in your way, so be careful. 5. At this point, you don't have to worry about the pinning disk or falling staircases. But you do have to ride on fast moving platforms that can help you proceed upward or lead you to your doom. 6. The last of the moving platforms in this area. But be mindful of the spikes that the plaforms are moving into, move quickly and time your jumps right to avoid the spikes as well as proceeding to the next area. Slogra The first of the 3 boss battles in the stage. Sogra is the fastest of the 3 as he moves fast and attacks quickly. He uses an asian style staff that shoots fireballs. Keep in mind is that when you hit him, he'll launch into the air and land right on top of you, so it's important to keep moving after you hit him. Once you wear him down, his staff will break and will fight you empty handed. In this second phase, Slogra will lunge forward and slide towards you, making him difficult to avoid. Make sure in the second phase you give yourself a good distance to survive. After defeating him, use the candles as they contain small Chicken Legs that will restore your health. Gaibon This boss is easier to defeat. Gaibon will fly around the area and spit fireballs from his mouth. But on an occasion, he'll also pound the ground to make spikes fall from above as well as spit fireballs. Gaibon will be out of reach of most sub-weapons (excluding the Axe). Once you wear him down, he'll turn red and continue to fly around, but instead of punding the ground, he'll spit fireballs from a lower point in the area. Jump onto one of the higher platforms to increase your chance to hit him. Grim Reaper The hardest of them all. First he'll materialize and then throw small sickles at you. Occasionally, he'll try to dive bomb you and slash you with his Scythe, and other times, he'll work dark magic and pull you in while his Scythe spins about. Destroy as much Sickles as much as possible to increase your chances of hitting him and survive, and take advantage of the opportunities when he gets low enough to the ground. 7. A special secret. Jump off of the platform to land on an invisible platform and jump again onto another invisible platform to receive 99 hearts, Big Chicken Legs, a Boomerang and Magic Stones. But don't attempt to do this if you don't feel confident. If you wish to not find this secret, walk up the staircase and proceed to Dracula's arena. Dracula The Dark lord who wants to conquer the world. There are 4 phazes to this fight. First, Dracula will do his traditional "teleport and throw energy balls" routine. Destroy the energy ball and hit his head to do damage. Once you damaged him, he'll throw a small energy ball that can be destroyed (you'll get a small Chicken Leg in the process). After that, Dracula will create fire-based enemies, that you'll have to contend with before Dracula re-appears. as his health is low, he'll go back to the small energy ball before filling up the room with electricity and re-appearing with a skull face that will cause lighting to shoot down from above, mind the lighting shots and pay attention where Dracula will re-appear.